Blink
by tanglestripe
Summary: Tanglestripe is a young warrior and the new deputy of RiverClan. She wants to prove herself, but with leaf-bare fast approaching and a new threat on the horizon, it will take everything she has to protect her home.
1. Prologue

**AN **Hey all! I've recently rekindled my love of warrior cats and this is what's come of it. It's a sort of re-imagining of my abandoned fic IslandClan's Struggle, with the same cast of characters but in the four clans that I grew up reading about. I hope you like it! You can find me on tumblr tanglestripe for warriors and lily-the-leopard for my main. Hoping to upload weekly on Mondays!

* * *

**Clan Allegiances**

RiverClan

**Leader:** Lionstar - ginger tom with a thick ruff of fur around his neck

**Deputy:** Tanglestripe - dark tabby she-cat with a gray-tipped tail

**Medicine Cat: **Spottedstream - calico she-cat with kind green eyes

_Apprentice: Applepaw - tan she-cat with one brown paw (front left) and brown-tipped tail_

**Warriors:**

Nightwhisker - dark tabby she-cat with a black ringed tail

_Apprentice: Badgerpaw_

Frostface - white she-cat with blue points

Ravenfeather - pitch black tom with dark eyes

_Apprentice: Hailpaw_

Mousestep - tan tom with brown points and a brown stripe down his back

_Apprentice: Cloudpaw_

Whitefoot - white tom with a black tipped tail and ears, and three black paws

_Apprentice: Quailpaw_

Batwhisker - dark brown tabby she-cat

_Apprentice: Ripplepaw_

Clovernose - white she-cat with one gray ear and a gray muzzle

_Apprentice: Deerpaw_

Leopardclaw - tan tom with dark spots

_Apprentice: Hailpaw_

Pebblefall - white tom with gray spots and toes

_Apprentice: Acornpaw_

**Apprentices:**

Flamepaw - ginger tom with red points

Acornpaw - brown she-cat with tan paws

Deerpaw - brown tom with a white face and belly

Badgerpaw - white she-cat with black markings

Ripplepaw - black tom with a white muzzle and paws

Cloudpaw - snowy white she-cat

Hailpaw - brown tom with a white stripe down his back and white front paws

Quailpaw - gray she-cat

**Queens:**

Hawkflight - gray tabby she-cat, mother of Vinekit (white tom with gray stripes) and Eaglekit (gray tabby she-cat with a white muzzle)

Splashfur - light blue she-cat, expecting Leopardclaw's kits

**Elders:**

Thrushflight - dark gray she-cat

Daisyfield - light brown she-cat with white spots

Pikesplash - brown tom with white markings like he was dipped in paint

Ferretfoot - dark brown tom with a white belly

ThunderClan

**Leader:** Stonestar - tall silver tom

**Deputy:** Oakshade - brown she-cat with dark spots

_Apprentice: Brackenpaw - small dark gray tom_

**Medicine Cat:** Whisperleaf - fluffy blue tom

WindClan

**Leader:** Poppystar - cream she-cat with white paws

**Deputy: **Silverscar - silver she-cat with a long scar running over her right eye

**Medicine Cat:** Heatherfur - tortoiseshell she-cat

_Apprentice: Sootnose - dusty gray tom_

ShadowClan

**Leader:** Foxstar - fluffy red she-cat

**Deputy:** Toadpounce - dark brown tabby tom

**Medicine Cat:** Pineshade - small gray tom

* * *

The night was quiet, warm with only a soft breeze to suggest that leaf-fall was nearly upon them. In the center of the forest were four tall trees, a place for the clans to gather under the full moon, but tonight there were no clans and no moon in the sky to gather beneath.

A silver tom ran into the clearing at full speed and scrambled up the face of the large rock at the center of the clearing. A calico she-cat watched from the branches of one of the tall trees, but could not move to save him as the baying of dogs grew closer. She looked on as he pressed himself down to the rock as if to hide and her eyes lit up with the lightning in the distance.

"A storm is approaching, Spottedstream," a familiar voice whispered in her ear as the pelts of countless dogs flashed through the clearing towards the rock, "and the river will run red with blood before it passes."


	2. A New Beginning

**AN** I was going to wait until Monday to post this but I'm a chapter ahead now and I'm just too excited to get to the story. This is more set up, but things are going to HAPPEN in chapter two so just wait. I know there's a lot of cats in this clan, but at the risk of sounding ominous, I wouldn't worry too much about knowing them all ;)

* * *

Tanglestripe padded into camp at the back of the patrol, a sparrow clutched in her jaws. As a RiverClan cat, she much preferred the fish Nightwhisker and her apprentice Badgerpaw were carrying ahead of her. But she knew her own apprentice, recently made warrior, had a taste for them. The thing had been all but begging to be caught when she'd wandered off to try a new fishing spot, and she couldn't resist running up and pouncing on it.

She flicked her tail in farewell to her companions and padded off to the nursery. Two tiny cries of her name greeted Tanglestripe and she held the bird aloft to save it from Eaglekit who pounced for it. The kits' mother Hawkflight chuckled and pulled her kit back with a paw to where her brother was sitting.

"You're lucky that wasn't Splashfur coming back from her walk," Hawkflight mewed.

Eaglekit turned from the two adult she-cats to pounce on her brother instead, and they rolled off towards the empty side of the nursery. Tanglestripe set down the prey and touched noses with the young queen, unable to keep the mirth from her meow.

"They'll be off with mentors soon."

"Not soon enough." Hawkflight sighed, but she kept a careful watch on her kits as they played nonetheless, and Tanglestripe knew she was secretly dreading them leaving the safety of the nursery.

She played with the kits for a while, letting them pounce her tail while Hawkflight ate, but looked up when there was a call from outside.

"Let all cats old enough to swim gather for a Clan meeting!"

Tanglestripe gave Ivykit a lick between the ears and untangled herself from Eaglekit, who was begging to come to the meeting. She slipped outside just as Hawkflight was explaining they could watch from the entrance and hurried to a spot Nightwhisker had left her. Tanglestripe gave her sister a questioning look, but she didn't seem to know any more than she did.

Lionstar was atop the large rock by his den to address the Clan, his deputy Thrushflight at the base. The sun was just barely visible through the trees now and it turned his pelt a fiery orange.

"Thrushpelt, is it your wish to give up the role of a warrior and deputy to go to join the elders?"

There were several sounds of surprise from the Clan, Tanglestripe included, until Thrushflight flicked her tail for silence.

"Don't think I won't still be giving orders to you apprentices," she meowed sternly as she gave the group of younger cats a hard look, as she was known to do, then sighed, "but it's time for me to rest."

Lionstar seemed to understand.

"RiverClan honors you and all the service you have given us. I call upon StarClan to give you many moons of rest."

"Thrushflight, Thrushflight!"

She went over to sit by Ferretfoot and the other elders as the Clan called her name, then fell silent when Lionstar looked over them, then up to where the first few stars were beginning to appear in the sky.

"I say these words before StarClan, so that the spirits of our warrior ancestors may hear and approve of my choice. The new deputy of RiverClan is Tanglestripe."

There were a few sounds of surprise from the gathered cats before Nightwhisker started up the chant.

"Tanglestripe, Tanglestripe!"

Tanglestripe stared up at the Clan leader, only dimly aware of the Clan calling her name, and there was a moment of silence before she could bring herself to speak.

"That- I'm honored, Lionstar. I will try to be the best cat I can for the Clan."

He dipped his head to her with a proud look but she was distracted from her leader when Badgerpaw all but tackled her.

"Congratulations!"

She grunted and Nightwhisker laughed at her apprentice's antics.

"Don't crush her before her first day!"

She wiggled out from under the apprentice as Ferretfoot padded over to touch noses with her. Her father looked a mix of sad and excited for her as he twined their tails together.

"Your mother must be be so proud," he mewed.

Her mother Wolfheart had been killed in battle against ThunderClan a few moons prior. It had been what caused her father to retire and it was obvious to her that he was more happy staying in camp and watching kits than he had been being a warrior.

"Tanglestripe."

She jumped at the stern call of her name from the prior deputy and gave her Father another nuzzle before she hurried over. The new elder was sitting at the foot of the rock where Lionstar had called the Clan meeting. She sat beside Thrushflight and tucked her tail over her front paws in an attempt to look more put together. Tanglestripe thought it would take her a while to see her as an elder instead of the deputy, even if she was the one who had taken her position.

"What can I do for you?"

"The patrol I assigned this morning went out at dusk, but you need to start thinking about duties for tomorrow."

Thrushflight gave her the intense look that had always made her nervous as a kit and an apprentice, and she had a hard time not letting it show that it unnerved her a bit even now. She took a breath and dipped her head to the elder.

"Do you have any suggestions? You were deputy for a long time."

"Stop that," Thrushflight snapped, and she looked up in surprise, "You're deputy now. You need to show cats that you know what you're doing. Even if your head's underwater, they're going to look up to you to lead them."

Tanglestripe nodded. She was still worried about the responsibility she had been trusted with, but in her was a new resolve. Thrushflight was right. She would do whatever she had to for her Clan, even if that meant being braver than she believed she could be. Thrushflight must have noticed the way she straightened up, because her expression softened.

"But, I suppose an old cat like me could give you a few pointers."

They spoke well into the night about which cats were best for patrols and hunting, the cats who she shouldn't put together, who was best to leave in camp, and how best to address the Clan. She hadn't realized until then how much Thrushflight really did for them every day to keep the Clan running smoothly, but she had even more respect for the elder by the time she was shooed off to the warrior's den to get some rest for the day ahead.


End file.
